Chapter 11 Summary

Connie finds an old wooden cradle and mentions to Mrs. Bolton that it might after all be used because she and Clifford may be having a child. This is how the village rumor starts. Later Connie drives into Uthwaite. On the way, she sees the large Georgian homes she once knew so well being torn down to make way for new, less expensive, smaller homes. The sight of the mines, the factories and the workers streaming into them like clockwork fills her with dread and horror. She returns home to Wragby thankful to be away from the harsh reality of Uthwaite.

Connie and Mrs. Bolton are working together in the garden, and Connie begins asking her about her late husband. Eventually, the conversation between the two women becomes intimate, and Mrs. Bolton discusses her sexual relations with her husband and her opinions about them in general. Mrs...